SAGUACHE COUNTY — It’s been a highly productive fall and winter for the Saguache County Firewise Program, in its 15th year, mainly due to the skills and dedication of the workforce.

Kevin Matz, the Baca Assistant Fire Chief, was instrumental in helping do assessments and complete hands-on mitigation projects since we were funded again back in September. His chainsaw talents and ability to jump into the Site Boss role when we got spread out and split the crew made us versatile and his calm and detailed choice of tactics kept everyone safe.

The second Baca supervisor, Benjamin Antoniewicz who brought his knowledge of wildfire management after two years on the San Juan Hotshot Crew home to share. He split his time between the Greenbelt project and lot mitigation equally and stepped into the site boss position whenever needed.

This past winter, Cody Wolfe braved the biting cold winds and swirling snow on almost every project. He became proficient in ignitions to help folks with their pile burns. He literally moved tons of cut materials to piles or trailers to haul to the mitigation pit and has begun his apprenticeship in wildfire chainsaw use.

Grace Puchtel joined us last summer and became a regular on Firewise projects and is a great asset to the program.

Joshua Fruland made sure the Greenbelt crew had enough folks to operate before joining the lot crew. Wherever he worked, a lot of slash was moved with his signature strap and drag technique. He is also becoming a skilled sawyer.

Our meticulous equipment officer, Jake Marcus, arrived every morning a half hour early to do rig checks and equipment rehab. Whenever needed for a large project, he swung off the Greenbelt crew to do whatever job was necessary. His chainsaw techniques vastly improved this year and I figure he’ll make his FAL2 qualifications in the next year or so.

Stevo Hirsch drives the ambulance, day or night, rushing to help folks through some of their darkest moments. When available, he added his saw skills to projects, until a call for help came and he high-tailed it to get the ambo.

Anther EMS responder is Quinn Kenny. He fit in with the crew and learned quickly how we run our dynamic work environment safely, adding his emergency coverage to our projects.

Angie Geis is a great organizer who works in the office one day and help swamp in the field the next. Most of us crave working outdoors and are grateful for those who can sit in front of a computer, which is a vital part of the job. She has a standing invitation to work with my crew anytime she needs to get outdoors and get ‘er done.

The Firewise program has been augmented by a few others on occasion this past year. Alexandra Woods, is mainly an EMS person and admin worker, who plans to pursue fire communications but managed to join us a couple times. Popular musician Marcus Daniels was hired on a week-long private job since he is waiting for an opening on the fire department. Former fire chief Ben Brack helped us whenever we hit a huge job and he was available and even Kevin “Popeye” McConnauhhay managed to leave his usual Greenbelt Site Boss position for a day on one of the retreat center jobs.

Gratitude to our county commissioners who have supported and funded the Firewise program since its conception. Thank all of you for making Saguache County a safer place to live.